Tuesday, October 28, 2014

EU gears up for 2030 with more emissions reductions

European Commission , Press release, Brussels, 28 October 2014:

The Commission, assisted by the
European Environment Agency, today releases its annual Progress Report
assessing the headway on climate action. According to latest estimates,
EU greenhouse gas emissions in 2013 fell by 1.8% compared to 2012 and
reached the lowest levels since 1990. So not only is the EU well on
track to reach the 2020 target, it is also well on track to overachieve
it.

The Progress Report also for the
first time provides data on the use of fiscal revenues from auctioning
allowances in the EU Emission Trading System (ETS). This new source of
revenues for Member States amounted to € 3.6 billion in 2013. From this,
around € 3 billion will be used for climate and energy related purposes
- significantly more than the 50% level recommended in the EU ETS
Directive.

EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said: "Delivering
on 2020 climate goals shows that Europe is ready to step up its act.
And better, still: it shows that the EU is delivering substantial cuts.
The policies work. Therefore, the EU leaders last week decided to
continue the ambition and reach at least 40% by 2030. This will require
significant investments. That's why it is encouraging that Member States
have decided to use most of their current ETS revenues to invest in
climate and energy and continue the transformation to a low-carbon
economy."

These revenues complement the
funds from the EU's NER 300 programme which is devoting €2.1 billion to
support 39 large-scale demonstration projects for low carbon
technologies around Europe.

Background

The Kyoto
and EU 2020 Progress Report is an annual report from the Commission to
the European Parliament and the Council. It is based on the data
reported by Member States under the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation. The
Report provides information about the progress made by the European
Union and its Member States towards their greenhouse gas emissions
targets. The decrease in emissions of 1.8% in 2013 compared to 2012 implies that total EU emissions are around 19% below 1990.

Since 2013
auctioning is the default method of allocating allowances within the EU
ETS. Auction revenues accrue to Member States. The EU ETS Directive
stipulates that at least half of the revenues from the auctioning of
allowances should be used to combat climate change in the EU or other
countries.

Most countries have used these
investments in fields like energy efficiency, renewables or sustainable
transport. For instance, France, the Czech Republic and Lithuania use
all their auctioning revenues in projects to improve the energy
efficiency of buildings. Bulgaria, Portugal and Spain use most of their
revenues to develop renewable energy. Poland uses most of its revenues
that are dedicated to climate change in support of energy efficiency and
renewable energy. In Germany, most of the revenues are directed to a
specific climate and energy fund, which supports a wide range of
projects including research and sustainable transport. The UK focusses
in particular on energy efficiency, renewables, research and financial
assistance to low income households in relation to energy expenses. The
reported amounts represent only a proportion of total climate and energy
related spending in Member States' budgets.

EL Kaos UT

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